Mowers (Farming Simulator 17)
A Mower is a type of in Farming Simulator 17 designed to harvest . As an active Mower passes over grown Grass, it will cut that grass and leave it lying on the ground in a long of "Loose Grass". Once the Grass has been mowed, other machines are required to either collect it (see , ) or transform it into (see ). A can help sort the loose grass for an easier pickup. Farming Simulator 17 offers 6 different models of Mowers, all of which are -mounted. Aside from Price and Working Width, different models of Mowers have very different configurations from one another, cutting either directly in front of the tractor, off to the side, or off to both sides simultaneously. Some Mower models are designed to be mounted simultaneously on the same tractor, to give an overall wider working area. Note that Mowers are in direct competition with , which are -mounted tools that can perform the same job and collect the Grass immediately once it has been cut (but they are far more expensive than any Mower). There are 6 mowers in the base game. The adds 1 mower. List of Mowers Choosing Mowers Aside from financial considerations, when deciding which Mowers to buy it is very important to consider both the width and position of their Working Areas. These factors not only determine how effective a Mower will be, but also how to mount it on your , and what other Mowers (or other machines) you can attach in tandem with it. Properly selecting and attaching your mower models can significantly increase the speed and efficiency in which you mow and collect your . Mower Offset Unlike most tools in the game, many Mowers have a deliberate offset. They don't mow the grass directly in front of the (or directly behind it); Instead, they mow Grass on one or both sides of the Tractor. Mowers can be split into the following groups, based on which side of the Tractor they cut on: Center: This type of Mower works like most other Tools in the game: It has a single cutting head that will cut Grass along the centerline of the Tractor's path. It can be mounted either on the front or back of the Tractor, with little difference. Side: This type of Mower has a single header that will cut Grass alongside the Tractor. The tractor therefore needs to drive next to the grass in order to cut it. Which side you mow on (left or right) is determined by whether the Mower is mounted on the front or back of the Tractor. Switching sides requires detaching the mower and reattaching it on the opposite end of the tractor. Double: This type of Mower has two separate headers, which will simultaneously cut Grass on both the left and right sides of the tractor. The result are two separate lines of Loose Grass, which will need to be collected separately (or back into a single line). There is a significant gap between the two cutting heads, so grass directly underneath the tractor's path will be left untouched. Double mowers can be mounted on either the front or rear of the tractor, with little difference. Variable: This type of Mower has only one cutting head, but it can cut at any offset you require - Left, Right, or Center. A special key combination can be used to change the offset at will - even while working. Mower Combinations Mowers use a Three-point hitch, which allows them to be attached to either the front or rear of (most) . One important consequence of this fact is that you can attach two mowers to the same Tractor, and operate them simultaneously. Naturally, you'll want to combine two mowers of different types (see prev. section) for this to have any effect. Attaching two "Center" models to the same tractor, for example, accomplishes nothing - the front header will cut the grass, while the rear one passes over the already-mowed grass and does nothing to it. The same goes for a "Side" header and a "Double" header. Side & Side: In this combination, you attach one "Side" mower to the front of the tractor, and one to the back; One will cut grass on the left, the other will cut on the right. This is a very cheap alternative to using a "Double" header, but still leaves the grass at the centerline untouched. Center & Side: This cheap two-head combination includes a "Side" mower and a "Center" mower. Together they will cut along the center and off to one side of the tractor. Center & Double: The most effective combination is a "Center" Mower combined with a "Double" mower. This gives you a total of three cutting heads with very minimal overlap between their working area. With the largest Mowers available, this provides you with a total of 9.0 meters of working area and no gaps at all - allowing you to mow a lot of grass very quickly. Variable & Center/Side/Double: The "Variable" mower type can be combined with any of the other types. All you need to do is set the "Variable" mower to cut at an offset not covered by the other header. Four-Header: This combination is the most expensive and complex, but also the widest. Attach a "Center" mower to the front of the tractor, a "Double" mower at the back, and then attach a "Variable" mower to the Double mower, and set it to cut as far out to one side as possible. As a result, you'll widen the total working width to around 10-11 meters - completing the harvest very quickly. Note that this combination is not without problems, because the Variable model may become stuck when you turn at the end of the field. Remember that your tractor needs to be powerful enough to carry all of these mowers while also providing them with power. Small-class and even some Medium-class tractors are simply too weak for the job, and may become immobile once you turn all of the mowers on. Consider purchasing a powerful Medium-class or even Large-class tractor. Mowers and Trailers To speed up your work, it may be a good idea to consider attaching an additional tool behind your to process the grass as it is being cut. You can attach a to collect the grass immediately; a to collect the grass in form; a to turn the grass into ; or a to combine all of your grass trails into a single line for easier pickup later on. To attach a trailer behind your Tractor, you need to keep the rear attachment point available. This means mounting your mower (or mowers) on the front of the tractor. Also remember to try to match the working width of the trailer to the working area of the mowers. For example, using a Loading Wagon with a Double Mower is pointless - the mower will leave two trails off to either side of the tractor, while the Loading Wagon tries to pick up grass along the centerline - resulting in the Loading Wagon picking up nothing at all. One very important thing to mention here is the . This Double-headed mower has two Three-point hitch attachment points on either side. Therefore, you can attach this mower to the front of your tractor, and then attach a "Center" mower directly to it - putting both your headers in the front and leaving the tractor's rear attachment point open for a Trailer. Alternatively, the can be attached to the rear of your tractor, with the trailer attached directly to the mower itself. This is only possible with trailers that have a Three-point hitch, however. Many trailers do not have such a hitch, and therefore must be attached directly to the Tractor. Once again, remember that a Mower and Trailer combination requires the use of a powerful Tractor. It must have enough power to tow the weight of the trailer and mowers together, as well as provide them all with power. Even a Large-class Tractor may have problems operating this sort of combination. Super-Large tractors, while very powerful indeed, often lack a front hitch altogether, and therefore cannot use a mower/trailer combo effectively. Comparison with Universal Cutters As the previous section explained, you can use a "Center"-type Mower and a on the same , to cut the Grass and collect it immediately. This is pretty much the exact same function performed by a installed on a . This overlap puts the two categories of tools in direct competition with one another. There are several important differences between using a Universal Cutter and using a Mower/Wagon combination. Each method has its own advantages and disadvantages, and it's up to you to decide which method works best for you at any given time. * Header Size: A Mower/Wagon combination requires the use of a single-head mower at the front, creating a single trail of Grass to be picked up by the Wagon - and Single-head mowers are about half as wide (on average) as any Universal Cutter. Thanks to the extra width, a Universal Cutter processes a lot more Grass at once. * Speed: Universal Cutters impose a speed limit of 15 km/h / 9 mph speed limit while working, whereas Mowers impose a limit of 20 km/h / 13 mph. This allows Mowers to work 33% faster - however this does not make up for the width disparity (see prev. point). * Perfect Collection: Unless you make a mistake while working, a Universal Cutter will collect 100% of the grass it cuts into the container. A Mower/Wagon combo, on the other hand, has a harder time collecting everything it cuts, unless you spend extra time making sure the wagon's pickup head has passed over every bit of dropped grass. * Plowing Issue: As far as the game's code is concerned, a Universal Cutter is a type of Harvesting Header, not a type of Mower. As a result, the code treats them slightly differently when calculating how much Grass is collected. The most important effect is that Mowers ignore the state of the field, always assuming that the field is plowed - whereas Universal Cutters do care whether the field has recently been plowed. Plowing a Grass field requires you to replant the Grass all over again. If you choose not to plow the field every few harvests, it will eventually yield a little 5-10% less Grass when using a Universal Cutter compared to a Mower. * Tippers and Loading Wagons: Whereas a Universal Cutter works perfectly with any type of container, a Mower/Wagon combo works only with a , since it must actively pick up grass once it's been dropped by the mower. A cannot perform this function. Because Tippers are generally bigger than Loading Wagons, a Universal Cutter can work with the largest Tippers and thus collect much more Grass before needing to be unloaded. Category:Farming Simulator 17 Category:List Category:Farming Simulator 17 Mowers Category:Farming Simulator 17 Equipment